Buying vintage watch hands--the dilemma

[noirrac1j]

Hello,

I am having trouble getting a set of watch hands for a Girard Perregaux 03 movement. The hand lengths are indicated in photo, and the diameters are as follows:

Minute-- 1.50mm

Hour--0.80mm

Sub second--0.20mm

It seems I can only buy entire lots or bulk watch hands--This doesn't make sense to me as I don't need 100 watch hands of different sizes. Cousins UK has some individual hands and sets, but they only have the rose colored in dagger style. Any help appreciated!

Regards,

JC

Edited January 4, 2017 by noirrac1j

[Ishima]

Hands look functioning and i presume they're not or were not plated, maybe polishing them by hand while they're on a staking block would be the better course of action?

[noirrac1j]

5 minutes ago, Ishima said:

Hands look functioning and i presume they're not or were not plated, maybe polishing them by hand while they're on a staking block would be the better course of action?

Hello Ishma,

Yes these hands are fine, but they belong to another watch that happens to be a Girard-Perregaux with same movement. I need to find hands for a movement that doesn't have any at the moment.

J

[StuartBaker104]

JC

This is a real challenge. Not least of which is the hole sizes. If you find a set of modern hands where the minute hand hole is big enough, then the hour hand hole will be too large.  You find the right size hour hand hole, then the minute hand will be the wrong length. You can make holes bigger... but smaller is really hard!

I managed to find a set for a vintage Universal Geneve at Esslinger a while back, but I'd been looking for a long time. In your case, ebay might be your friend... http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Vintage-Girard-Perregaux-Gyromatic-Original-Textured-Dial-and-Complete-Hands-Set-/282313547222?hash=item41bb32ddd6:g:qJ8AAOSw2xRYa-3H

S

[noirrac1j]

13 minutes ago, StuartBaker104 said:

JC

This is a real challenge. Not least of which is the hole sizes. If you find a set of modern hands where the minute hand hole is big enough, then the hour hand hole will be too large.  You find the right size hour hand hole, then the minute hand will be the wrong length. You can make holes bigger... but smaller is really hard!

I managed to find a set for a vintage Universal Geneve at Esslinger a while back, but I'd been looking for a long time. In your case, ebay might be your friend... http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Vintage-Girard-Perregaux-Gyromatic-Original-Textured-Dial-and-Complete-Hands-Set-/282313547222?hash=item41bb32ddd6:g:qJ8AAOSw2xRYa-3H

S

Hello Stuart,

Yes its exactly as you've described. I find sets where one hand is the correct size but the other is too short or not large enough. The link you've included is tempting. I may send the seller a note asking what the measurements are. The hands I need are for a caliber 03b and I understand the base caliber is the same as AS 1130 so I am going by those measurements which I have confirmed with the hands from the other GP movement. I will add Esslinger's to my search. Thank you.

 

JC

[clockboy]

As you say a difficult task.  I have a draw of hands and yet not one to fit your criteria. It might be worth looking at job lots of watches for repair/parts on the Bay you just might get lucky. 

[Watchtime]

I will have a look in my stock and let you know.

[RyMoeller]

I often have the same problem and have taken to purchasing old hands from eBay when they come up as a lot.  I'll take a look at what I have this evening and let you know if anything matches.

[RyMoeller]

On 1/3/2017 at 8:18 PM, noirrac1j said:

Hello,

I am having trouble getting a set of watch hands for a Girard Perregaux 03 movement. The hand lengths are indicated in photo, and the diameters are as follows:

Minute-- 1.50mm

Hour--0.80mm

Sub second--0.20mm

It seems I can only buy entire lots or bulk watch hands--This doesn't make sense to me as I don't need 100 watch hands of different sizes. Cousins UK has some individual hands and sets, but they only have the rose colored in dagger style. Any help appreciated!

Regards,

JC

JC

The measurement you've taken for the hour & minute hand (12 & 14mm respectively), is this the full length of the hand or measured from the center of the post hole?  I have a couple candidates that may possibly be a proper fit...  possibly.  I just want to double-check the measurements.

[noirrac1j]

10 minutes ago, RyMoeller said:

JC

The measurement you've taken for the hour & minute hand (12 & 14mm respectively), is this the full length of the hand or measured from the center of the post hole?  I have a couple candidates that may possibly be a proper fit...  possibly.  I just want to double-check the measurements.

Hello @RyMoeller, Yes the measurements are from the center of the post hole. It would be great of you have anything.

 

J

[RyMoeller]

4 minutes ago, noirrac1j said:

Hello @RyMoeller, Yes the measurements are from the center of the post hole. It would be great of you have anything.

 

J

Gotcha.  I'll double check this evening. 

[frenchie]

Ofrei has a ton of different hands and style, could be worth looking into?

[RyMoeller]

Well, as I feared, it looks like my hands are coming up short.

I would suggest Otto Frei as well- they seem to have the best assortments when it comes to vintage watches.  Unfortunately their shipping costs are pretty severe too.

If you can't find anything better let me know and I'll ship you what I have.  You can pick through the group and see if any will work and just return the rest.

[noirrac1j]

1 hour ago, RyMoeller said:

Well, as I feared, it looks like my hands are coming up short.

I would suggest Otto Frei as well- they seem to have the best assortments when it comes to vintage watches.  Unfortunately their shipping costs are pretty severe too.

If you can't find anything better let me know and I'll ship you what I have.  You can pick through the group and see if any will work and just return the rest.

Hello @RyMoeller Thank you very much for looking through your stock. Those hands look pretty good. They are just the style I am looking for. I've just about checked anywhere I could think of here in the U.S. and looked at CousinsUK. 

O Frei has a hand style called Alpha in gold that is closest to what I'm looking for:

Minute 0.80mm x 13mm HAN-6848

hour 1.50mm x 11mm  HAN-6858

Both of these are short my 1mm. Right now the miovement has nothin, so I'm willing to deal with slightly shorter hands as long as the style is correct and the hole is is exact. Now...I'd rather pay you for the hands than deal with O. Frei's $14.75 shipping fee...this is actually more than the cost of the hands ($8.70).  Can you gauge the hole size of your hands? I would not want to ask you to ship them and come to find out they won't work. I will, of course, pay the shipping (as long as it isn't $14.75)

 

Thanks again for your help Ry.

JC

[RyMoeller]

Well I don't have gauge for measuring the inside diameter so I have to do my best with the caliper but it looks like I do have a 0.8mm minute hand and 1.5mm hour hand.  I'll package them all up and send them off though so you can see what might fit best. PM me an address and I'll have them in the mail tomorrow.  

[noirrac1j]

I go the hands in the mail to @RyMoeller, so thank you very much! They are mostly too big or short, but I found a pair that is OK for now....

With these at least I can see the timekeeping. I am very grateful and will send back the remaining lot soon. If you need any spare parts and I have them, you are welcome to them! More to come....

 

JC

[RyMoeller]

On January 9, 2017 at 7:42 PM, noirrac1j said:

I go the hands in the mail to @RyMoeller, so thank you very much! They are mostly too big or short, but I found a pair that is OK for now....

With these at least I can see the timekeeping. I am very grateful and will send back the remaining lot soon. If you need any spare parts and I have them, you are welcome to them! More to come....

 

JC

Yeah, sometimes it's just impossible to get aftermarket hands that match the watch.  I'm glad you found two that were somewhat of a fit!  I received the remainder back in the post this weekend- thank you very much!  Thanks also for the extras.  I'm not sure yet what I'll do with them but I assure you tweezers and screwdrivers will be involved!  

[noirrac1j]

8 minutes ago, RyMoeller said:

Yeah, sometimes it's just impossible to get aftermarket hands that match the watch.  I'm glad you found two that were somewhat of a fit!  I received the remainder back in the post this weekend- thank you very much!  Thanks also for the extras.  I'm not sure yet what I'll do with them but I assure you tweezers and screwdrivers will be involved!  

Hey @RyMoeller, thank you for the hands. The hands I got from you are perfect size, but just a little short. They will do for now. I am glad you received the remainder and the extras. I got those in a lot of stuff I bought and I don't think anything is wrong with them because they will tick if you wind the barrel.

 I will post an update when the GP watch is all together.

JC

[noirrac1j]

The Girard Perregaux is complete and wore it yesterday for first time. The dial is a little worn, but original and it has a nice 36mm size. The movement is the manual wind GP 03 calibre that has "adjusted" stamped on it, but not known what type. Special thanks to @RyMoeller for sending me a pair of very hard to find vintage hands that came in very..uh...handy!

JC

Edited February 7, 2017 by noirrac1j

[RyMoeller]

Very nice!  Glad I could assist.